Monday, February 13, 2012

After "The Isle of Blood", What's Next...?

I've discussed this before in a few interviews, but I want to confirm it here as well: the second Challenger Storm book is in the pipeline, and about halfway complete at this point.  The title is "The Curse of Poseidon", and it's shaping up to be a pretty fun ride for me so far: Storm and the MARDL crew versus ancient superstitions and piracy in the Aegean Sea near Greece.  My writing-speed at this time varies from "sluggish" to "non-existent" so I can't accurately predict exactly when it'll be done and submitted for publication, but I'm trying to get it out there.

In the meantime, the seed for another Storm adventure has been planted, and it's rapidly grown pretty big... so big that it's nudged all other plans for subsequent Challenger Storm novels back by a peg or two and has forced me to consider restructuring my planned timeline of the entire series.  I can't give very much info at this point other than the title (which was partially suggested by Storm fan and MARDL feedback-scientist Bob Besco): "Challenger Storm: White Hell".  (I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you...)

I have other projects I'd like to work on as well: other series, stand-alone one-shots, things like that.  It seems silly to talk about future projects when my productivity rate is so damned slow, but I find that it helps me to actually work on things if I talk about them publicly... in that way, I look like an idiot if I don't follow-through with my announced plans.  I'm a little jealous of the infernally-prolific writing-machines awesomely-talented fellow writers I'm acquainted with: I'm in awe of their sheer output, and it's all quality stuff.  If you're not familiar with these folks, check the links to the right and start clickin' and buyin'... you'll be glad you did!
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3 comments:

  1. Derrick FergusonFebruary 13, 2012 at 5:55 PM

    I'm kinda the exact opposite...I've found that if I talk too much about my WIP then I don't feel the urge to write it out. It's as if I need that inner pressure at the keyboard and too much talking releases that pressure.

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    1. Don GatesFebruary 13, 2012 at 7:23 PM

      The more I write, the more I discover that public announcements aren't my enemy, but outlining is. Recently, I sat down and wrote notes on everything that I wanted to do in the second half of "Curse of Poseidon", then I sat back and felt like "Now that I've written this I don't really need to finish the book." It was bizarre and illogical, but I fought really hard to keep going afterwards. In the future, only a bare-minimum skeleton of a story is all the notes I'm going to keep.

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    2. Derrick FergusonFebruary 15, 2012 at 2:02 PM

      That's why I don't outline myself. I have friends of mine who react with horror when I tell them I don't outline. If I know everything that's going to happen in the story I don't see much point in writing it. I know what the major action scenes and sequences are going to be and what emotional/dramatic beats I have to hit and that's it. I kinda feel my way around and to those scenes By Guess and By God.

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